Virginia § 55.1-201 - Contracts of, and actions by and against, married persons

§ 55.1-201. Contracts of, and actions by and against, married persons

A married person may contract and be contracted with and sue and be sued in the same manner and with the same consequences as if he were unmarried, regardless of the date on which the right or liability asserted by or against him accrued. In an action by a married person to recover for a personal injury inflicted on him, he may recover the entire damage sustained, including the personal injury and expenses arising out of the injury, whether chargeable to him or his spouse, notwithstanding that the spouse may be entitled to the benefit of his services about domestic affairs and consortium, and any sum recovered therein shall be chargeable with expenses arising out of the injury, including hospital, medical, and funeral expenses, and any person, including the spouse, partially or completely discharging such debts shall be reimbursed out of the sum recovered in the action, whensoever paid, to the extent that such payment was justified by services rendered or expenses incurred by the obligee, provided that written notice of such claim for reimbursement, and the amount and items thereof, shall be served on such married person and on the defendant prior to any settlement of the sum recovered by him, and no action for such injury, expenses, or loss of services or consortium shall be maintained by his spouse.

Code 1919, § 5134; 1932, p. 21; Code 1950, § 55-36; 1950, p. 460; 2019, c. 712.